ياليك من بشر تهش وتبسم

وأيامك الحسنى بمجدك تقسم

What gladness is yours—you beam and smile!

And your fairest days swear by your glory.

يسوق التهاني طاعة ومحبة

على بابك الميمون عيد وموسم

In obedience and love, congratulations are brought

to your auspicious door by a feast and a festive season.

لك الحظ من عامين ماض ومقبل

يحثهما ذو حجة ومحرم

Yours is the good fortune of two years, past and coming,

urged onward by Dhu al-Hijjah and Muharram.

فمستقبل أضحى بشكرك يبتدي

وماض وقد أمسى بذكرك يختم

The coming year now begins by thanking you,

and the past year has come to close with mention of you.

وفي مثل هذا الشهر عرفت يمنه

سما بك عزم نحو يحيى مصمم

In a month like this, whose blessing you knew,

a resolute purpose carried you aloft toward Yahya.

تيممت أعمال الصعيد لحربه

فضاق به فوق الصعيد التيمم

You made for the districts of Upper Egypt to fight him,

so, upon Upper Egypt's soil, his room to turn grew narrow.

جلبت إليه عصبة كاملية

بأمثالهم تبنى المعالي وتهدم

You brought against him a Kamili band,

by whose like the heights of glory are built and razed.

إذا نطقت يوم الجلاد سيوفها

فإن لسان النصر منهم يفهم

When its swords speak on the day of combat,

the tongue of victory is understood through them.

تريك سنى الأصباح منها أسنة

حكتهن في ليل العجاجة أنجم

Its spearheads show you the radiance of dawn,

mirrored by stars in the night of battle-dust.

صدمت بها يحيى وقد كاد أمره

وتدبيره الثاني يتم ويبرم

With them you struck Yahya, when his undertaking had nearly

—along with his second scheme—been completed and sealed.

فعثرت مسعاه وأطفأت ناره

وعوقت مجرى سيله وهو خضرم

You tripped up his endeavor and put out his fire,

and blocked his torrent's course, vast as it was.

ولم يقدم الفسطاط إلا وعزمه

يؤخر رجلاً خوفه ويقدم

He only reached Fustat with his resolve

advancing a foot while his fear held one back.

أرادت قريش نصره وولاءه

وما ذاك إلا للمخافة منكم

Quraysh sought to support him and give him allegiance,

but only out of fear of you.

وإلا فلم تنكر قريش بأنكم

سنام العلى والناس خف ومنسم

Otherwise, Quraysh never denied that you are

the hump of glory, while other men are foot-pad and toe.

وقد علمت أحلامها وعقولها

غداة عصتكم أنها سوف تندم

Its judgment and its reason already knew,

the morning it defied you, that it would regret it.

وما جهلت أيام إسنى وطنبد

وساحل هروط بأنك ضيغم

Nor was it unaware, in the days of Esna and Tanbad,

and on Harut's coast, that you are a lion.

وقفت بها تحمي فوارسك التي

كفيت أذاهم حين دافعت عنهم

You stood there protecting your horsemen, whom

you spared harm when you defended them.

وأبقيت فيها يا شجاع بن شاور

طرازاً على كم الشجاعة يرقم

And there you left, O Shuja ibn Shawar,

a band embroidered upon the sleeve of courage.

وإن عجيباً أن سيفك في الوغى

محل لأرواح العدى وهو محرم

And it is wondrous that your sword in battle

makes enemy souls lawful to take, though itself consecrated.

وقد ولدت منك الوزارة واحداً

له النصر يوم الروع والنصل توأم

The vizierate has, through you, given birth to one

for whom victory and the blade are twins on the day of terror.

لئن عرفت منك الشناشن في الوغى

فوالدك الهادي أبو الفتح أخزم

If your ingrained traits are recognized in battle,

then your father, al-Hadi Abu al-Fath, is Akhzam.

أمير الجيوش العاضدي الذي غدت

بطاعته الأقدار تعطي وتحرم

The Adidi commander of armies, under whom

the fates have come to grant and withhold in obedience.

أخو معجزات لم يصل قط كاهن

إلى السر من مكنونها أو منجم

A possessor of miracles: no soothsayer has ever reached

the secret hidden within them, nor has any astrologer.

وكم من يد قد نازعتكم إلى العلى

ففزتم بها والله بالغيب أعلم

How many a hand has contended with you for glory,

yet you won it—and God knows the unseen best.

وقد أعرضت عمن سواكم فلم تبت

أعنتها إلا إليكم تسلم

Glory has turned from all others, and never by night

are her reins surrendered to anyone but you.

حملت من الأثقال عن قلب شاور

نوائب لا يقوى بهن يلملم

You lifted burdens from Shawar's heart—

calamities that Yalamlam could not withstand.

إذا نابه أمر فإنك مخدم

وإن نابه ثغر فإنك لهذم

If a crisis strikes him, you are a cutting sword;

and if a frontier troubles him, you are a keen spear.

تكفلت عنه رحلة الصيف والشتا

كأنك تلتذ الشقاحين ينعم

You undertook for him the journey of summer and winter,

as though you relish hardship while he lives in ease.

فيوماً إلى أنجاده أنت منجد

ويوماً إلى إسعاده أنت متهم

One day, to aid him, you are upland-bound,

and another, to bring him ease, you are lowland-bound.

نهضت لأعمال المحلة نهضة

يداوى بها جسم العلى حين يسقم

You undertook a vigorous advance to the districts of al-Mahalla,

which heals the body of glory when it grows ill.

ومهدت أكناف البلاد بهيبة

كفتك وما أهريق بالسيف محجم

You pacified the country's reaches with an awe

that sufficed you, without a cupping-glassful shed by the sword.

بثثت بها بأساً وجوداً تنافيا

كما تتنافى جنة وجهنم

You spread there severity and generosity, mutually opposed

as Paradise and Hell stand opposed.

فلم يبق فيها من عفاتك معدم

ولم يبق فيها من عذابك مجرم

No destitute man remained there among your petitioners,

and no criminal there was spared your punishment.

وعدت إلى دست الوزارة قافلاً

وجيشك بالتأييد والنصر معلم

You returned home to the seat of the vizierate,

your army marked by support and victory.

وكفك مبسوط وعدلك شامل

ومجدك محروس ونهجك أقوم

Your hand is open, your justice all-embracing,

your glory guarded, and your path most upright.

وأضحت رحاب الملك لما حللتها

تحيا بتعفير الوجوه وتلثم

And the royal courts, when you entered them, came

to be saluted by faces pressed in dust, and kissed.

أعدت على الأيام كل ظلامة

ومالك من جور الندى يتظلم

You redressed every grievance against the days,

while your wealth complains of generosity's tyranny.

فلو بلغت نحو السماء بلاغة

لباتت لك الشعري مع الشعر تنظم

If eloquence could reach toward heaven,

Sirius would spend the night strung for you alongside verse.